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Thursday, 17 February 2011

Spanish fashion chain Zara is caught on plagiasm.

One of the world's largest fashion retailers which owns Zara stores and several other global chains has withdrawn a series of T-shirts from its shops after bloggers complained the company was copying their photographs from the internet.

The T-shirts were removed from the Inditex group's Stradivarius stores after complaints from teenage fashion and style bloggers who said the company was using the photographs they posted of themselves on their sites. The striking similarity between the T-shirt pictures and those on sites run by 19-year-old Swiss fashion blogger Michèle K and France's Louise Ebel left the Spanish company unable to deny the allegations.

"It is a pity that they did it behind the back of me and all the other bloggers," Michèle K said. "I feel a bit angry about it just because of the fact that they didn't had my permission to use my picture. It would be no problem if they asked me, but they didn't. And that's kind of a lack of respect, in my opinion."

"I'm very disappointed," said Ebel, whose face features on at least two Stradivarius designs. "This is irrespectful towards our intellectual property."

A spokesman for Inditex confirmed that the T-shirts had been removed from racks. "They are from an outside designer," he said. "We are trying to work out exactly what the situation with these shirts is. The company we used should have got the rights. That would be the norm."